Laursen

Robert Basie had represented James Fogarty in custody

hearings between Fogarty and his former wife, Sherry Laursen. After Fogarty, in propria persona, replaced Basie as counsel of record, the court ordered Basie to pay $2,000 into a trust fund for Fogarty to use to retain new counsel. Basie entered a peremptory challenge and moved the court to reassign the cause to a different judge. The motion was denied. Basie appeals from the order denying the peremptory challenge and from the order requiring him to pay into the trust fund, contending the court acted beyond its jurisdiction in ordering him to repay earned legal fees.

*1085 I

Fogarty and Laursen obtained a dissolution of their marriage in 1983. Since that time they have been involved in a bitter and prolonged battle over the custody of their two children, Deborah and James. Each parent has sought permanent custody, claiming the other is unfit and dangerous. Although the court found both parents dangerous to the children, it left Deborah and James in Laursen’s physical custody and attempted to find a workable visitation schedule for Fogarty.

Over the course of numerous legal proceedings, centering on Fogarty’s…